Eat Pray Mourn: Crime and Punishment in Jakarta

Magic and Crime

The megacity of Jakarta is full of glitzy malls and condos, but beneath the city’s neon buzz and ever-changing skyline there are ordinary people living in traditional neighbourhoods called kampung. Anthropologist Jacqui Baker and radio academic Siobhan McHugh take us into the narrow alleyways of two kampungs to meet the ‘little people' of Indonesia’s capital. They’re warm and humorous, they believe in magic and spirits, but they also have grinding fears. They live on the knife-edge of poverty and although they’re far from the polished corridors of power, they’re often the first victims of Indonesian’s violent political changes.

Criminals and political change

Maintaining order in the city’s chaos is a source of anxiety for kampung people; they worry about criminals and bad influences. Criminals had a strange place in Indonesian history: they were powerful in the kampungs and gangsters and hoods played major roles in important political events. But in the 1980s they were conveniently scapegoated to extend the life of Soeharto's 'New Order' regime.

Police Shootings

Today, in Indonesia’s new democracy, a criminal’s life is cheap. Community lynchings of undesirables are common. Meanwhile, the police execute an unofficial policy of punishing recidivists, shooting them dead or in the legs. Media reports don’t question the police’s version of events and the community is generally ambivalent towards criminals. Through the stories of three women who are mourning their beloved 'criminals' the program asks questions about the hidden legacy of authoritarianism and the kind of violence that’s condoned and perpetuated in Indonesia’s new democracy.

Yeni's fight for justice

You’ll meet Yeni, a fiery young kiosk owner and her family of six siblings. When younger brother Yusli is arrested and shot dead by the police, the family breaks with the convention of guilty silence and painful acceptance, by demanding justice. We follow Yeni and her family during the Muslim grieving period of the first 40 days after Yusli’s death as she challenges police impunity and state bureaucracy to have her brother’s killers brought to trial. From these unlikely trench-lands, Yeni’s struggle marks the glimmers of change. Just as Indonesia’s unique combination of history, culture and politics has shaped and constrained its democratic future, Yeni shows us that it also opens up space for hope.